The Salvation Army

The Salvation ArmyThe Salvation Army is an international movement, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. It is dedicated to the propagation of the Christian faith and to the furnishing of various forms of assistance to persons in need of spiritual solace and material aid. The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 in London by the English Methodist minister William Booth. It was originally founded as the Christian Mission, with the aim of carrying on evangelical and social-welfare work among the inhabitants of the slum areas of London. The Salvation Army was originally called the Christian Revival Association. It was renamed the East London Christian Mission in 1870 and from 1878 has been known as the Salvation Army (The Salvation Army United States of America).

William Booth was born in Sneinton, Nottingham, England, the only son of four surviving children born to Samuel Booth and Mary Moss. When William was born his father was doing well financially. By 1842 Samuel Booth became bankrupt and could no longer afford his son’s school fees. Later, 13 year-old William Booth was apprenticed to a pawnbroker. Two years into his apprenticeship Booth was converted to salvation and

Methodism. Booth was encouraged by his good friend, Will Sansom to become an evangelist. In 1848 Booth’s apprenticeship ended, and he spent a year looking for more suitable work than pawnbroking, which he disliked and considered ungodly. By 1851 Booth joined the Methodist Reform Church and on April 10, 1852 he left pawnbroking and became a full-time preacher at their headquarters at Binfield Chapel in Clapham. This is where he met his wife Catherine Mumford and by 1865 both him and his wife opened The Christian Revival Society in the East End of London, where they held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to offer repentance, salvation and Christian ethics to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. Booth and his followers...